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Uttarakhand floods: is the disaster human-induced?

PHOTO GALLERY

A bird's eye view of area around Govindghat in Uttarakhand. The army is working on laying a cable bridge (Photograph: Indian Army)

Portion of the road at Govindghat has been washed away (Photograph: Indian Army)

For rescue and relief operations, at least 5000 army personnel have fanned across districts of Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts in Uttarakhand and some areas in Uttar Pradesh (Photograph: Indian Army)

Access to many areas is cut off because of roads and bridges getting washed away by floods (Photograph: Indian Army)

Army personanel evacuating pilgrims by foot on route to Kedarnath

Army personnel evacuating pilgrims by foot en route to Kedarnath (Photograph: Indian Army)

More than 200 pilgrims have been evacuated by foot, and housed at Joshimath

More than 2000 pilgrims have been evacuated by foot, and housed at Joshimath and Dharchula (Photograph: Indian Army)

Army personnel evacuated 600 people across a rivulet by laying a temporary bridge made of wooden logs on rout (Photograph: Indian Army)

In Uttarakhand, army has undertaken rescue and relief operations in four sectors – Harsil, Kedarnath, Joshima (Photograph: Indian Army)

The bridge over the river Pinder and the road connecting Pinderghati to Garhwal and Kumaon as they stood earlier

The bridge over the river Pinder and the road connecting Pinder valley to Garhwal and Kumaon as they stood earlier (Photograph: Kailash Devradi)

Heavy rains have washed away the road beyond the Pinderghati bridge

Heavy rains have washed away the road beyond the Pinder valley bridge (Photograph: Kailash Devradi)

Further down the same road, buildings including a hotel that had been built beside the river Pinder have been obliterated (Photograph: Kailash Devradi)

A view of Tharali town and the collapsed river bank (Photograph: Kailash Devradi)

The lower storey of a hotel alongside the Pinder river at Karnprayag has been inundated with water during the floods (Photograph: Kailash Devradi)

The road connecting Pinderghati to Dehradun has been completely washed away in the rain (Photograph: Razz Rautela)

Flood fury: writing was on the wall

Uttarakhand is all too familiar with disasters. A look at the man-made factors that have aggravated disasters in the past, and have yet continued unchecked

Check global warming to prevent Uttarakhand-like disasters: World Bank

Report warns of substantially reduced flow in Indian rivers in lean season and acute food scarcity if heat is not turned down

Man–made reasons for Uttarakhand disaster

Expansion of hydel projects, roads and tourism is making the Himalaya in Uttarakhand crumble

Rush for hydropower

About 70-odd dams have been planned on Ganga and its tributaries

State of India’s Environment - A Citizens’ Report

Parts of CSE report published over 20 years ago that broke many myths about floods in the Himalaya

How effective is India’s disaster management authority?

Rains in Uttarakhand extreme weather event: scientists

Himalayan states also face risk of glacial lake outburst floods

INTERACTIVE

Where all did extreme events cause disasters last decade

Getting the bulletin right: EL Nino and the new challenges

Monsoon arrives early; kills over 30 people in Uttarakhand

Dhari Devi idol goes missing

100 years of rainfall data

Changing rainfall pattern

Future shock

2013 to be normal monsoon year: IMD

Sikkim at risk of devastating floods from glacial lake outbursts

2001-2010: Warmest decade on record

Transition failure

UPA's ambition to deliver welfare as cash to bank accounts is hardly a game changer

Children’s health affected by marketing of unhealthy foods

Protests continue at lower Suktel dam site

Ahmedabad’s beat-the-heat plan

Panel calls for halt to water privatisation in Khandwa

Karnataka civil society to protest against panchayati raj Bill

Yamuna set to cross danger mark in Delhi

Assam heat wave kills over 10 people

Energy conservation building code for Andhra soon

NEWS

Nuclear utility grabs land

Public sector NPCIL encroaches upon mango plantations near its Ratnagiri plant

Bonn climate talks: SBI session ends without adoption of agenda

US, China to work together on phasing down HFCs

Rajasthan announces Project Great Indian Bustard

IN-DEPTH

Rogue GM crops wreak havoc

Monsanto’s unauthorised GM wheat in the US has spooked the world, but contamination is widespread

Rogue GM crops wreak havoc

Structural collapse

Chaos in the iron age

BOOKS & FILMS

REVIEW

Victims of ‘growth’

A village awaits doomsday brings to the reader stories of people displaced by 'development'

Book>> A village awaits doomsday • Jaideep Hardikar • Rs 299 • Penguin Books

FILM

Identity under threat

Tuhya Dharma Koncha depicts the problem of religious persecution of tribals and forced conversions

Read the complete review

~ EDITOR’S SELECTION ~

BOOK

How indigo spread

Skin deep

Living with hunger

Informal economy in perspective

REPORTER’S DIARY

Roadmap for an effective environmental regime

Nivit Kumar Yadav reports on how different countries are tackling environmental pollution and the lessons in it for India

Nuclear shadow over Gujarat village

People in Mithi Virdi and nearby villages talk to Ankur Paliwal about their fears over the nuclear power park proposed on their land

EDITORIAL

Sunita Narain

Pedestrian questions

COLUMNS

Latha Jishnu

US pharma strikes back

INTERVIEW

The many ways of GM contamination

PHOTO GALLERY

Kolkata’s hellhole

FOOD

How about some baby crocs?

BLOGS

Second disempowerment

Tribals have lost their decision-making power twice; first to the state then to the Maoists

Where votes meet volts

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political future would depend much on fixing the country's power crisis

Who owns our identity?

Between Nilekani’s UID and National Population Register’s KYR+is a huge mess and a looming nightmare

This Issue

2013-6-30

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June 30, 2013

COVER STORY

Transition failure

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